Sunday 13 February 2011

Chocolate and Nut Yogurt Cake

I think this basic, highly adaptable, yogurt cake is becoming one of my 'everyday' staple recipes.

Because it uses oil and yogurt, making it is simply a matter of mixing the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another and combining the two! Even allowing a few minutes for lining the cake tin, weighing ingredients and chopping chocolate, this cake was ready for the oven in under 10 minutes. In fact, you need to think a little further ahead to get the oven up to temperature before the cake goes in.

This is a moist, quite dense cake, with the hazelnuts and Toblerone giving it a crunchy texture. It's not richly chocolatey, as the Toblerone is milk chocolate, but it's a pleasant cake for everyday eating.

Here's the recipe:
170g plain flour
30g cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
200g caster sugar

Measure the above ingredients into a large bowl, and whisk together with a ballon whisk. You can sift the flour and cocoa if you prefer, but I don't find it necessary.

250g wholemilk natural yogurt*
100g sunflower oil*
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*I find it simpler to weigh the oil and yogurt, rather than move them in and out of measuring jugs.
Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl or jug, then pour onto the flour  mixture, and beat for a couple of minutes until the batter is smooth and well blended. Fold in the chosen flavouring ingredients, in this case:

100g Toblerone (milk with honeycomb crisp), chopped quite small
50g finely chopped hazelnuts

Transfer the batter to a prepared 20cm diameter springform cake tin, base lined with baking parchment, and bake at 180C for about 60 minutes, or until a test probe comes out clean.

Cool for 15 minutes in the tin before removing the cake to a wire rack.

11 comments:

Chele said...

YUM!!!! I could really go a piece of this cake right now. Will be book marking it for future reference ;0)

Anne said...

I really like the look of your cake, imagine it would go down nicely right now with my cup of tea!

Hazel - Chicken in a Cherry Sauce said...

I have never seen Toblerone used in a cake before! Or yoghurt for that matter. Very intrigued by this and would absolutely love a slice right about now!

cocoa and coconut said...

I love using yoghurt in a cake. Plus, nuts and chocolate is a winning combination!

Brownieville Girl said...

I love toblerone and I know that I'd love this cake too!

Suelle said...

Hazel - using yogurt in cakes is quite common; it's not just to reduce the fat levels, which is why I'm using it.

Toblerone gives a more interesting flavour and texture than an ordinary bar of unflavoured eating chocolate.

Jo said...

Hi Sue,Brian is a big Toblerone fan so this might be just the cake to try on him when I finally get to March and sweet baking again... thanks!

Suelle said...

No sweet baking until March, Jo? That sounds a bit harsh!

Beth (jamandcream) said...

Oooo yum - looks lovely and moist.

Nicole said...

Wow, a cake with hazelnuts and Toblerone! I must make this.

Choclette said...

A quick and easy cake recipe has just got to be tried. It looks really moist and delicious.